|
|
88%
|
Balseros (2003) |
"
Despite the heroic exertions of the rafters and filmmakers, this apolitical film is oddly lacking in drama."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 18, 2010
|
|
|
0%
|
One Missed Call (2008) |
"
If you missed the first One Missed Call, made in Japan in 2004, you now can miss the American remake."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jan 7, 2008
|
|
|
23%
|
Bulletproof Monk (2003) |
"
The fight scenes are routine, the humor juvenile, and the Toronto locales rendered drab through muddy cinematography."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 3, 2007
|
|
|
8%
|
Kangaroo Jack (2003) |
"
Likable but negligible."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 5, 2007
|
|
|
8%
|
Gods and Generals (2003) |
"
Maxwell continues his textbook emphasis on military maneuvers, but despite literally thousands of Civil War reenactors recruited for the film, the wide-screen canvas fails to map the tactics or evoke the terror of battle."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 27, 2007
|
|
|
9%
|
Stealing Harvard (2002) |
"
Among the squandered supporting cast are Dennis Farina, Chris Penn, Megan Mullally, and Seymour Cassel."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 26, 2007
|
|
1/4
|
52%
|
The Lost World - Jurassic Park (1997) |
"
Spielberg's dinos, manipulated by a small army of puppeteers, are watchable enough. But these artificial critters have little reason to be resurrected in our era, let alone on 3,300 screens over Memorial Day weekend."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 1, 2000
|
|
1.5/4
|
32%
|
Freshman Orientation (2007) |
"
This trivial film toys with the postmodern lifestyles."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 21, 2007
|
|
1.5/4
|
49%
|
Hatchet (2006) |
"
In its gore, Hatchet is not especially inventive"
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 7, 2007
|
|
1.5/4
|
33%
|
Trapped Ashes (2008) |
"
Dennis Bartok writes this lackluster anthology of four juvenile horror stories dripping with sexual dread and goofball gore."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Aug 31, 2007
|
|
1.5/4
|
30%
|
The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (2003) |
"
The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai is far less silly than it thinks it is. The upbeat vibe of super-female power misfires with a gratuitous rape scene."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 23, 2007
|
|
1.5/4
|
——
|
La Brune et Moi () |
"
Bad edits include quick-as-blink cutaways, though not in any punkish poke-in-the-eye style. The directing is comparably incompetent, without any wink at DIY stardom a la Warhol."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jan 5, 2007
|
|
1.5/4
|
44%
|
Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds (2006) |
"
[Director Phillip] Bartell crafts some quips, but the momentum falters when he goes maudlin."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Dec 8, 2006
|
|
1.5/4
|
15%
|
Iowa (2005) |
"
Cut with distractions: tweaky visuals, borrowed touches and cartoonish characters."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Aug 25, 2006
|
|
1.5/4
|
27%
|
America: Freedom To Fascism (2006) |
"
As if anticipating bad reviews, Russo ends his scattershot assault with a preemptive strike against the media: 'It's just the Federal Reserve System trying to save itself.' If you buy that line, then I'm the great-grandson of a 1913 conspirator."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 28, 2006
|
|
1.5/4
|
43%
|
Two Drifters (2006) |
"
I don't get it."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 21, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
63%
|
The Afterlight (2010) |
"
Unfortunately, the subdued tone only adds distance, not depth, to their unstated issues."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 6, 2011
|
|
2/4
|
67%
|
The Garden of Earthly Delights (2006) |
"
Unfortunately, the couple's intimacy is not especially interesting."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 28, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
24%
|
Fierce People (2005) |
"
After a promising start, Griffin Dunne's film bogs down and simply turns into a predictable mish-mash of a movie that is shrill and heavy-handed and totally trite."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 21, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
51%
|
The Bubble (Ha Buah) (2007) |
"
Don't bet on this Israeli drama exploding any cliches."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 7, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
54%
|
Manufacturing Dissent (2007) |
"
Too bad co-writers/co-directors Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine don't investigate -- and ingratiate -- the way their target does in his own films."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Aug 31, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
61%
|
Dans Paris (Inside Paris) (2007) |
"
Dans Paris has a lot of whining about women, interrupted with impulsive trysts and bouts of dancing."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Aug 31, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
60%
|
Them (Ils) (2007) |
"
The fright is crafted well enough, but the twist at the end calls for more originality than filmmakers David Moreau and Xavier Palud wield."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Aug 24, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
69%
|
Lights in the Dusk (Laitakaupungin valot) (2007) |
"
The director's existential sarcasm is muted here."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 23, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
50%
|
Hula Girls (Hula garu) (2007) |
"
Slick cinematography makes this bland social comedy always watchable, but the movie has its insipid moments."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 13, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
48%
|
Exterminating Angels (Les Anges Exterminateurs) (2007) |
"
Endless auditions get the annoying Francois nowhere closer to grasping what turns women on."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted May 11, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
30%
|
The Hawk Is Dying (2006) |
"
Goldberger and Giamatti strain too hard for strangeness."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted May 4, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
——
|
To the Stars by Hard Ways () |
"
Badly dated, this sc-fi trip to the despoiled planet Dessa drags with social commentary."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted May 4, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
56%
|
Civic Duty (2006) |
"
Canadian director Jeff Renfroe builds only off-the-shelf suspense as Terry's suspicions increase."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted May 4, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
75%
|
Ping Pong (2002) |
"
An overlong exercise in sport as character-builder."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Apr 27, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
52%
|
Disappearances (2007) |
"
This scenic adventure is too fussy with metaphysical lore."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Apr 27, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
74%
|
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) |
"
[Director] Glosserman can't match the wit of Scream, the fright of The Blair Witch Project or the satire of journalism seen in Series 7."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Mar 16, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
52%
|
Matthew Barney: No Restraint (2006) |
"
[Director] Chernick's stylish yet superficial report looks more like an orientation video for museum visitors."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Feb 2, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
43%
|
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2006) |
"
This opaque tale offers meticulously crafted atmosphere, but rather less passion or drama."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jan 5, 2007
|
|
2/4
|
50%
|
Wilderness Survival for Girls (2007) |
"
Co-directors and co-writers Eli B. Despres and Kim Roberts make their feature debut with an uneven teens-in-peril thriller."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Dec 15, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
17%
|
Turistas (Paradise Lost) (2006) |
"
[Director] Stockwell delivers too little of the dread and titillation this genre prescribes."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Dec 1, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
56%
|
Fuck (F*ck) (2005) |
"
Far smarter fun with filth, though, can be found in The Aristocrats."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Nov 17, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
38%
|
Unknown (2006) |
"
Gritty, gimmicky."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Nov 10, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
88%
|
Mutual Appreciation (2006) |
"
Shooting in black-and-white 16mm, Bujalski nods to the pre-Sundance personal cinema of the '50s and '60s. His little circle of pals, though, offers little to outsiders looking in."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Nov 10, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
69%
|
Cocaine Cowboys (2006) |
"
This documentary on Miami's lethal '80s cocaine scene is cut fast."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Nov 10, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
47%
|
Renaissance (2006) |
"
For its retro-futurist look alone, this outdated thriller set in 2054 Paris is worth seeing."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Nov 3, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
25%
|
Zerophilia (2005) |
"
Boasts a fertile premise but a sterile outcome."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Oct 27, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
75%
|
The Photographer, His Wife, Her Lover (2006) |
"
Adultery, abuse, and astronomical art world prices are packaged with creepy background music and cliched close-ups of court records."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Oct 27, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
67%
|
Lunacy (2006) |
"
A horse-drawn carriage crossing an expressway overpass promises a more subversive ride than Svankmajer delivers."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Oct 27, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
50%
|
Darshan, The Embrace (2006) |
"
Her teachings are trite."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Oct 6, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
89%
|
Matador (1986) |
"
It's a useful look at this Spanish auteur finding his way but lacks the elan of his later work."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 22, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
81%
|
4 (Chetyre) (2006) |
"
The result is a teasing, if trying, exercise."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Sep 15, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
69%
|
Yôkai daisensô (The Great Yokai War) (2005) |
"
This noisy, effects-crazed PG-13 adventure might work for 10 year-olds who are beyond Nickelodeon piffle and ready for Japanese splatter."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Aug 13, 2006
|
|
2/4
|
46%
|
Edmond (2005) |
"
Makes little sense as a character study, and borders on nonsense as a screed on race in America."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jul 28, 2006
|
|
2.5/4
|
64%
|
Great Directors (2010) |
"
A pleasing if not surprising sampler of apercus, bon mots and clips."
—
Chicago Sun-Times
Posted Jan 27, 2011
|
77%
31%
88%
85%
45%
40%
